The first John Wick film is probably one of our favourite films of all time, we love the idea that if you hurt a dog, rage would make sure you got your revenge.

We loved the sequel expanded the universe of the world behind the elusive Continental hotels for hitman and the high table that manage them but we were apprehensive about the 3rd film, especially as it has a 2 hour plus run time.

Those fears wear undone within the first 10 minutes as the
film continues almost an hour after the sequel ended.

The story is simply enough, for breaking rules for killing a
member of the high table on Continental grounds, Wick is now on the run with a
multi million dollar price tag for anyone that can kill him.

The film follows Wick on the run having him kill as many of
those trying to kill him in as many elaborate ways as possible with as many
different locations, the desert, a library, on horse back

Wick of course gets secret support from the characters we’ve
met in previous films, Winston; Charon and the Bowery King as well as
introducing us to plenty more new characters, a stand out being Sofia who works
with Wick with some fantastic attack dogs.

Whilst the original will remain our favourite, this
instalment was a joy and probably the closest Hollywood has done for matching films the
likes of the Raid from Asian cinema. We highly expect this to be a contender
for a film of the year

The BMAF Rating:

It is a credit that in a 2 hour plus film, John Wick 3 continues to offer entertaining ways to kill off the bad guys, this really is a great sequel that will leave you hoping for rmore – 5 Popcorns

We were ready to give this new Hellboy a Chance despite being huge fans of the previous films

As a disclaimer, we were huge fans of the Guillermo Del Toro Hellboy movies, but director Neil Marshall has given us the likes of Dog Soldiers and The Descent so we decided to give this a chance.

The story is simple
enough, when the evil blood queen Nimue is resurrected, it is down to Hellboy
to stop her.

We knew what we
were getting but we had no idea it would be this poor, instead of an
entertaining film we have a swearing gore fest that would be better suited to a
direct to DVD title.

The Cast do well to
make the film watchable but its 2 hour run time really drags at time as it does
not flow at all well.

We really wanted to
enjoy this film but instead came out pining for a 3rd Del Toro movie
=(

THE BMAF RATING

This version of Hellboy is an utter letdown, concerned more about securing a higher rating than giving a great story, we would urge you to seek out the Del Toro Previous Hellboy films than this version – 2 popcorns

]]>http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/hellboy/feed/0Was it worth digging up Stephen King’s Pet Sematary for a remakehttp://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/sematary/
http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/sematary/#respondWed, 17 Apr 2019 15:28:18 +0000http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/?p=1970 Director: Kevin Kolsch & Dennis Widmyer Writers: Screen Story, Matt Greenberg; Screenplay, Jeff Buhler from the Stephen King Novel Stars: Jason Clarke; Amy Seimetz; John Lithgow; Jete Laurence TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XakmsXltPkA THE BMAF REVIEW: The Creed family have decided to move from their home in the busy city to a house in a quieter, less populated […]

The Creed family have decided to
move from their home in the busy city to a house in a quieter, less populated
rural town of Maine.

Upon arrival, the Creeds find
that the road that runs past their house is used frequently as a shortcut for a
haulage firm. It is upon the first passing of one of these loud vehicles
roaring past that we get an idea of what could happen.

The family see a group in animal
masks carrying out a parade, which we learn is for a dead pet, presumably hit
by one of these passing vehicles and they are burying the poor animal in the
nearby Pet Sematary.

Louis Creed, who since his move to Maine, now works as the school doctor at a nearby university has to deal with the passing of a child hit by a lorry, on one of his first days.

Dr. Creed will soon get nightmares of the child and deal with his own loss, when on Halloween, the family cat, Church is discovered by their neighbour, Jud. It is clear he may have been hit by one of the passing vehicles.

Jud shows Louis a way that can
help his family deal with the loss by showing him a sacred burial ground. After
burying the deceased cat, Louis tells his daughter that Church has run away.

When the family wake in the morning, Church has returned, seemingly as good as new, but for a foul smell. We soon learn that the sacred burial ground has the power to bring the dead back to life, albeit not the same, Church is now a lot more aggressive and not the loving cat he once was.

Whilst horrified, when tragedy
strikes again, killing their eldest daughter, Louis has a decision to make,
does he let the dead rest in peace or take her to the Pet Sematary

THE
BMAF RATING

This film is the dilemma that no
pet owner would want to have to face. You can have more time with your beloved
pet, but they will not be the same, and certainly not the loving family member.

The loss of a pet is the most horrible feeling in the world and it is certainly why, in part, why we where willing to give this remake a try as the original featured a lookalike of our beloved Hooch the cat.

Our beloved Hooch with the original.

The new Church is a different
breed and he is certainly a highlight in this new film but in all honestly we
found this film bitterly disappointing, the original had so much more character
to it, this new version seems to just want to rely on jump scares.

John Lithgow does well with what
little screen time he gets, he certainly doesn’t have the presence that Fred
Gwynne had in the original, in fact the real highlight is the young actress
playing the daughter Ellie and should prove to be one to watch.

Overall this isn’t the worse
Stephen King adaptation but its by no means the best.

Plenty of scares but not enough story to it, we honestly preferred the original3 Popcorns

]]>http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/sematary/feed/0Does Tim Burton’s new Dumbo film Soar?http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/does-tim-burtons-new-dumbo-film-soar/
http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/does-tim-burtons-new-dumbo-film-soar/#respondWed, 10 Apr 2019 12:21:18 +0000http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/?p=1962Synopsis: A travelling circus buy a pregnant Elephant to get more spectators to their show but are shocked to find that when born, the baby has huge ears but also a hidden talent which will get their small circus noticed on a much larger scale Director: Tim Burton Writers: Ehren Kruger plus Helen Aberson and […]

]]>Synopsis: A travelling circus buy a pregnant Elephant to get more spectators to their show but are shocked to find that when born, the baby has huge ears but also a hidden talent which will get their small circus noticed on a much larger scale

We recently watched the 1941 hour running original and to be honest we were not big fans, the Animal Cruelty seemed more on show and also some of the characters you could argue were borderline racist, yet the heartbreaking story of a mother losing her son because he is different to us seemed to be made for retelling and being big fans of Tim Burton this was always going to be on our watch list.

Pepper with our copy of the original Dumbo

Tim’s live action version focuses more on humans than animals
but yet keeping the core of the original.

Holt returns to a travelling circus after serving in the war, he
finds he has lost the way to communicate with his children, who have also lost
their mother to illness whilst he has been away.

He finds Max Medici, the ringmaster has had to make many savings
as taking are considerably down, to the stage where he has invested heavily in
a bargain pregnant elephant, hoping its offspring can bring in the crowds.

Upon birth they find the elephant has over sized ears has made
the poor child a laughing stock, with audiences throwing popcorn and cups at
him, which causes the mother to rage and charge the audience to protect her
son.

The decision is therefore made out of ‘public safety’ to send
the mother away and reduce the poor child, now named ‘Dumbo’ to work with the
clowns.

Holt’s two children befriend Dumbo and promise to reunite Dumbo
with her mother and in their playtime learn that because of his oversized ears,
Dumbo can now fly.

Dumbo eventually flies in front of an audience and is an
overnight sensation, it is here where this new live action film differs, as
where as the original ends with Dumbo being reunited with his mother after
finding success, this versions tells how a huge corporate theme park run by V.
A. Vandevere wants Dumbo and the profits that follow all to themselves.

V.A. offers Max a too good to be true deal, promising to protect
his circus and its performers for years to come

Will this deal work out and will Dumbo be reunited with his
mother, well you will need to see Dumbo to find out

THE BMAF RATING

Heartbreaking and with a powerful message and fantastic visuals, we love this live action retelling of the 1941 Disney classic ‘Dumbo’ from Director Tim Burton 5 – Popcorns

]]>http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/does-tim-burtons-new-dumbo-film-soar/feed/0Should you ask ‘Us’ this is our Review of err Ushttp://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/us-film-review/
http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/us-film-review/#respondFri, 05 Apr 2019 13:01:31 +0000http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/?p=1955Synopsis: A family who when confronted by strangers, find they are Doppelgangers of themselves Director: Jordan Peele Writer: Jordan Peele Stars: Lupita Nyong’o; Winston Duke; Shahadi Wright; Elisabeth Moss; Tim Heidecker Watch trailer here: https://www.usmovie.com/videos/ The BMAF Review: We really enjoyed Get Out, the first horror film of Peele’s so we went in hoping for […]

The BMAF Review: We really enjoyed Get Out, the first horror film of Peele’s so we went in hoping for something as good. The film follows Adelaide as a youngster who in the 80s wanders into a funhouse and comes across a doppelganger of herself, a fright that initially leaves her unable to speak.

We then meet Adelaide
in the modern day, now with her own family, she still has trauma from the 80s
event but is eager to join Gabe on the trip as he wants to impress his friends.

All seems to be going well until the evening when they are approached by 4 strangers who turn out to be Doppelgangers of themselves who then terrorise them but it appears they may not be the only ones to have this issue

The film has moments of hits such as The Strangers and of course Invasion of the Body Snatchers but an exceptitional lead performance from Lupita make this film a real stand out

The BMAF Rating:

Many reviews are stating there are many metaphors for the state of America today etc but if we take it for what it was, a film, the scares are there and it is a great tense movie – 4 Popcorns

]]>http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/us-film-review/feed/0The BMAF Review: Fighting With my Familyhttp://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/fighting/
http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/fighting/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 17:05:48 +0000http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/?p=1950Synopis: A Brother and Sister are thrilled when they get a chance to audition for the WWE when they are spotted wrestling in the UK Director: Stephen Merchant Writer: Stephen Merchant Stars: Florence Pugh;Jack Lowden; Nick Frost; Dwayne Johnson; Vince Vaughn; Lena Headey Watch trailer here: The BMAF Review: This film is based on the […]

The BMAF Review: This film is based on the true story of an English family of wrestlers and was brought to the screen by Dwayne Johnson, when he saw a documentary on them on Channel 4

The film follows the story primarily of Zak and Saraya
Knight, who upon getting an audition for the WWE find their fortunes go in
opposite ways. Zak will be told he has not made the grade but Saraya will be
asked to trial in a journey that will see her become the first female wrestler
from the UK to appear in the WWE and become a fan favourite under the name
Paige.

We will see Saraya have to deal with being in another
country alone, with a gruelling training and mentoring program in America, while
Zak will see his life turn into turmoil as he becomes bitter for not being
chosen.

Both stories are superbly told by Merchant, who himself has
a cameo as one of the parents of Zak’s girlfriend and even if you do know the
Paige story, you still route for her to be a success and hope Zak can turn his
life around, such as you feel so involved with the characters.

Add other great characters around them, Frost and Headey as
the Knight’s parents add lots of humour, with Vaughn as the coach and Johnson
as the inspiration Rock they all look up to.

We happily admit to not being big wrestling fans but we
absolutely loved this film and highly recommend it

The BMAF Rating

You don’t have to be a fan of Wrestling to appreciate how good this film is. Full of heart and great characters, we absolutely loved this film 5 Popcorns

The BMAF Review: After DC Comics studio released Wonder Woman, a lot of eyes headed to Marvel to release a film with a female lead and Captain Marvel was the result

Like all films we went in with an open mind as yet again,
this one seems to be receiving a lot of negative reviews from people feeling it
has an ‘Agenda’

We get an initial opening on Hala, the planet of Kree, we meet female soldier, Vers who is being training in their battle with Skrulls, a breed of alien shape shifters and whilst on a mission to infiltrate them she ends up being captured.

She manages to escape but ends up on 90’s Earth, in a
Blockbuster video where she encounters Marvel favourites Nick Fury and Phil
Coulson.

After some big action sequences where Vers is tracking down the Skrulls who have followed her to Earth, the plot is revealed and we learn that it is battle to find an energy-core known as the Tesseract.

Captain Marvel with the help of Fury and A Scene stealing Cat called Goose plus some other friends but to tell you would be spoilers.

We really did enjoy this film, it certainly is not without faults, Brie does well in the lead role. but we don’t know if its down to 2 directors, the film does seem to be a mixed bag in style and some of the humour doesn’t work, unless Goose is involved.

The ending is a bit of a rush but was nice in that it wasn’t
the huge CGI fest of some of the Marvel films. The 2 hours did feel overlong at
times but it was an enjoyable adventure and we had fun from it which is what we
want from a film.

If you really are mortified by a female lead, the film works just as well as a Nick Fury origin story so it is definitely worth giving a chance.

The film also has a lovely tribute, as well as a great cameo for Stan Lee

The BMAF Rating:

A Marvellous new entry from the first female led film to enter into the Marvel Universe of films – 4 Popcorns

]]>http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/captain-marvel/feed/0We Watch Tree die over & over…again in Happy Death Day 2Uhttp://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/hdd2u/
http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/hdd2u/#respondWed, 20 Feb 2019 14:20:06 +0000http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/?p=1933Synopsis: Tree gets caught up in a science experiment which leaves her to repeat her ongoing death day in this sequel to the original Happy Death Day Director: Christopher Landon Writers: Christopher Landon and Scott Lobdell in respect of the characters Stars: Jessica Rothe; Israel Broussard; Phi Vu; Suraj Sharma; Sarah Yarkin; Ruby Modine & […]

We only discovered the Groundhog Day inspired Horror film Happy Death Day a week or so ago, but we loved its idea, even if was nothing new, this is in part was down to a fantastic lead performance from Rothe, so when we found out it had a sequel we had to add it to our watchlist.

What makes these films enjoyable is it’s the light-hearted way they are dealing with what could be a full on Torture Porn film, they feel to us more like the Final Destination franchise.

It is
because of this, you are happy to sit along and enjoy the ride, the sequel
follows the pattern of the first one but adds a Back to the Future element to
it where Tree will need to change things to stop the cycle.

The film
brings back all the stars of the first film, even expanding some of their
roles, Ryan’s especially. It also brings in some other characters and expands
the story more, to explain why this is happening to Tree.

It delivers
comedy but again showcases Rothe in the lead role as definitely one to watch as
this film will send her on a rollercoaster of emotions involving her parents
and her new found relationship with Carter.

The death scenes raise the game with some of them ranging from funny to gory, especially one involving a wood chipper. Also, of course, some of the deaths are carried out by the returning Bayfield Baby Masked Killer, but is it the same one?

A midseason credits scene sets up the possibility of a 3rd film and we would happily check in with Tree and friends one more time to see where this fun franchise goes next.

]]>http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/hdd2u/feed/0We Head to the Cinema for an Escape Room Experience!http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/we-head-to-the-cinema-for-an-escape-room-experience/
http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/we-head-to-the-cinema-for-an-escape-room-experience/#respondSat, 09 Feb 2019 12:02:51 +0000http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/?p=1926Synopsis: Six strangers are invited to enter an Escape Room with the offering of a huge cash prize. Upon entering they find the rooms put them in life threatening situations and learn the reasons they were picked Director: Adam Robitel Writers: Bragi F. Schut & Maria Melnik Stars: Taylor Russell; Logan Miller; Jay Ellis; Tyler […]

Synopsis: Six
strangers are invited to enter an Escape Room with the offering of a huge cash
prize. Upon entering they find the rooms put them in life threatening
situations and learn the reasons they were picked

The trailer had us thinking initially this could be the
latest inspired Saw-inspired Franchise hopeful but it doesn’t have the gore, UK rating is 15

The young cast do well and the concept whilst not original
does come up with some inspired rooms that they have to escape, the reasoning
the 6 were chosen is well done too and at 1 hour 39 minutes does not outstay
its welcome.

If you are a fan of this genre which includes such
franchises as the aforementioned Saw and the Final Destination franchises.

We actually enjoyed this film more than we expected too but
we felt that the ending was a let down as it just rushes into setting up a
sequel, however the film has done well at the box office so it does seem likely
it will happen.

The other thing you may get from watching this film is an
urge to revisit the Cube Trilogy which this film at times heavily reminded us of.

The BMAF Rating:

A surprisingly good horror thriller which whilst being unoriginal did leave us enttertained, just a shame they hammer they went a sequel so heavily at the end – 4 Popcorns

]]>http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/we-head-to-the-cinema-for-an-escape-room-experience/feed/0Is The Final How To Train Your Dragon Thrilling or Toothless?http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/httyd-hidden-world-review/
http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/httyd-hidden-world-review/#respondFri, 08 Feb 2019 11:38:23 +0000http://barkingmadaboutfilms.com/?p=1920Synopsis: Hiccup has now rescued so many dragons that Berk is over populated with them, to make matters worse because of having so many dragons Berk is prone to attacks from Dragon Hunters. Hiccup is determined to find the Hidden World, a place of legend told to him by his father, Stoick. At this place […]

Wow, it is not often a film franchise gets better with every
movie but we personally believe this series has done it.

The film has a fantastic storylines with powerful messages
about the dangers of over poaching and the risk of making beautiful creatures
extinct but also about friendship.

If this is to be the final film, the makers have certainly
gone out on a high, the ending is perfect, although tears of both joy and
sadness maybe shed

The Light Fury is a fun great character and worthy of
Toothless

You will urge Hiccup and Toothless to get a happy ending as
you really will care for these 2 and the rest of the characters.

If we had one fault, it would be that we felt as a main villain,
Grimmel was the weakest link, compared to the true evil of Drago in the sequel
but this is minor, fans of the films, rush and get your tickets now.

BMAF Rating

An amazing finish to a wonderful trilogy, you will want to laugh and cry at the same time – 5 Popcorns, a soaring success